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Ricco Rodriguez
Ricco Rodriguez (born August 19, 1977) is an American mixed martial artist. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion. He has also competed in PRIDE Fighting Championship, EliteXC, International Fight League, World Extreme Cagefighting and King of the Cage. He holds notable wins over Andrei Arlovski, Jeff Monson, Randy Couture, Paul Buentello and Rob Broughton. Early life Rodriguez grew up in the projects in Paterson, New Jersey. He got into a lot of street fights as a half Puerto Rican/half Mexican in a primarily Italian neighborhoodhttp://www.8countnews.com/news/117/ARTICLE/1223/2008-12-17.html. Rodriguez wrestled in high school while living in Staten Island, New York. He later moved to California and began training in the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Rigan and Jean Jacques Machado. He competed and won many Jiu Jitsu tournaments before moving on to MMA. Mixed martial arts career In 1997, Ricco Rodriguez became one of the small group of Americans to win a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championship, taking the Blue Belt Absolute title . He won the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in the Absolute (open weight) division in 1998. In the following year Rodriguez began his MMA career with a win against Rocky Batastini. He won several of his first matches before losing to Bobby Hoffman at the Superbrawl 13 event in Hawaii. He later fought in the PRIDE Fighting Championship before moving on to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. UFC Rodriguez's first UFC match was at UFC 32 against Andrei Arlovski which he won by TKO. He was scheduled to fight Lion’s Den fighter Pete Williams at UFC 33, but the fight was postponed until UFC 34 due to an injury suffered by Williams during training. Rodriguez went on to beat Williams, Jeff Monson (UFC 35) and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (UFC 37) to earn a shot for the vacant heavyweight championship against Randy Couture at UFC 39. Rodriguez was losing on the scorecard in the initial rounds. In the fifth round Rodriguez was able to achieve a ground-and-pound victory with a stoppage by verbal tapout. In his first title defense, he was knocked out by Tim Sylvia in the first round, losing the belt. Post-UFC Following the end of his UFC contract, Rodriguez fought for a number of regional and national promotions. He also gained a significant amount of weight, at one point weighing . On July 22, 2006, in a rematch of their August 2005 bout in the WEC, he avenged a loss to Ron Waterman at WFA: King of the Streets. He fought as a superheavyweight, weighing in at , and was quoted as saying "I'm fat but I still got skills." Following his win against Imani Lee on November 17, 2006, Rodriguez was put under indefinite suspension by the California State Athletic Commission. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that Rodriguez had tested positive for both marijuana and cocaine and was subsequently given a six month suspension for the failed drug test. On July 27, 2007, Ricco Rodriguez, in his first fight after his suspension, defeated Lloyd Marshbanks by first round TKO at MMA Xtreme 13, which was held in Puebla, Mexico. At the IFL championship finals, he lost to Ben Rothwell by unanimous decision. Rodriguez fought in the YAMMA Pit Fighting one-night heavyweight tournament as a late replacement. He defeated George Bush in the first round by unanimous decision, but was beaten by eventual champion Travis Wiuff in the semi-finals by unanimous decision. Ricco Rodriguez was scheduled to replace an injured Kevin Randleman in a fight against Jeff Monson at the inaugural Godz of War show. That event was canceled, however, and the fight was rescheduled for the inaugural Mixed Fighting Alliance (MFA) event, which Rodriguez lost by unanimous decision. At the 2009 ADCC qualifiers Rodriguez weighed in at a svelte 218 lbs, down well over 100 lbs from his peak in the mid-2000s. Rodriguez missed weight for his first attempt at fighting at 205 pounds at the inaugural Israel Fighting Championship event on Nov. 9. He still fought and won his fight over Daniel Tabera, however, and then promptly challenged his friend, Jeff Monson, to a fight at 205 pounds. Boxing career Rodriguez made his professional boxing debut on October 12, 2006, beating 19-year-old Cruiserweight Brandon Baker by knock out. On July 8, 2008, Rodriguez fought his second professional boxing bout losing via split decision to Chad Davies, who came into the fight with a 0-1 record. Personal life Rodriguez is of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent. He has a daughter and a son. Ricco is also the first Hispanic American to ever win a UFC Heavyweight title. Rodriguez has appeared on season one of the VH1 reality television show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew , Human Weapon where he faced Bill Duff in a draw, and also appears in some bonus footage of The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr DVD. Championships and accomplishments *'King of the Cage' **KOTC Heavyweight Championship (1 Time) *'Ultimate Fighting Championship' **UFC Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'YAMMA Pit Fighting' **YAMMA Heavyweight Tournament Semifinalist Mixed martial arts record References Category:American mixed martial artists Category:King of the Cage fighters Category:Heavyweights Category:Rumble on the Rock fighters